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Highschool of the Dead (HOTD) is a surprising winner once you get pass the campy title reminiscent of last-century B-grade horror movies. Despite a story set-up that is pretty generic in the zombie apocalypse genre, the series manages to mix in enough anime-unique tropes to create an entertaining blend of two vastly different subcultures.

Zombie survival is a relatively modern literary genre that traces its roots to American storywriters inspired by accounts of real-life “zombies” in Haiti, who were basically slaves tricked into believing that they were brought back from the dead after given a blend of tetrodotoxin (the same toxin found in puffer fish) and undergoing a state of near-death.

Hence, most zombie-related movies and novels are of American origin and have over the years evolved a well-documented style of story-telling that is quite far removed from the conditions that cultivated the anime subculture. Though the concept itself is not completely new to Japanese pop culture (e.g. Resident Evil, House of the Dead), I am hard-pressed to name offhand any other anime series that actually features traditional American-style zombies. So HOTD is kind of breaking new ground, I think.

Though zombies differ from story to story, they typically share a few trademark attributes. The zombies featured in HOTD follow the conventional archetype:

Infectious bite that raises dead victims as zombies

Slow-moving

Respond to sound but not sight

Non-intelligent

The brain/head is the sole weak spot

This is what happens when you let the undead run the city. Vote human next time

The infectious nature of zombie is typically responsible for a great portion of story tension, because it is difficult for people to accept that their bitten loved ones will soon turn into mindless brain-eating automatons, hence creating a chink in any fool-proof defences that can be conceived by humans with emotions (except maybe some kind of automated killer robot that kills anyone it detects to have been bitten).

Typically, this set-up benefits the sociopaths in a life-and-death situation because they can run away without a second thought, but their advantage is somewhat offset in the long-term by the fact that they eventually need to become part of a sufficiently large community of able-bodied humans in order to survive and defend territories.

The rest of the attributes are basically there to give humans a fighting chance so that they don’t get wiped out instantly (which makes for very boring storytelling). Really, why does the undead have to be slow or unintelligent? See: Sylvannas Windrunner.

The midnight commute is a pain

HOTD is probably not going to break any new grounds in the story mechanics of zombie horror, but what it does is to apply the tried-and-true formula to a bunch of anime stereotypes not typically found in zombie movies. It’s quite common to see losers who (surprise!) turn out to be heroes when confronted by the flesh-eating undead, but it’s a whole different can of entertaining when these losers consist of an angst-ridden shounen protagonist, a loud-mouthed tsunderekko, a textbook otaku and a ditzy fanservice school nurse (who probably saves the day unexpectedly in the end).

There’s an incredible amount of fanservice in HOTD, which, for the zombie genre, is probably the equivalent of inserting dinosaurs into the Bible. I mean, zombie survival stories thrive on dramatic tension between the characters and well-choreographed horror scenes, both of which should in theory be greatly denatured by having the female characters running everywhere with their panties exposed. The juxtaposition is often almost comedic saved for the fact that the protagonist is about to get her neck bitten off.

What you don’t see is her head falling off the other side

Surprisingly, this odd combination works out far better than it sounds. It flips the whole genre upside down, whereby you start to wonder when the next fanservice shot will interrupt the shambling undead doing their job, and this inversion of viewer expectation can be oddly enjoyable. It’s kind of like Shaun of the Dead except with lingerie. Both the horror and fanservice scenes also benefit greatly from HOTD’s high animation quality.

That said, HOTD does the typical zombie stuff quite well too. The author is clearly well-versed in the relevant literature and has created a scenario that goes deeper than just “omg zombies/monsters/aliens, run for ya lives.” There are some thoughtful discussions on the societal response to a zombie outbreak and the survival techniques needed, which are generally believable and interesting.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he had read and was partially inspired by World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. (WWZ in particular is probably the most thorough and serious thought experiment ever written about the macro social and political effects of a hypothetical global zombie outbreak. Highly recommended.)

Time Square is the Tokyo Tower of New York: frequent victim of the supernatural and extraterrestrial

And while the main characters are a hodgepodge of anime clichés, it can be quite interesting to watch them work.

For example, in American zombie movies, you always have these anarchistic gun-loving rednecks (I believe the politically-correct term is Tea Partier), whose crazy beliefs have finally been vindicated by the zombie apocalypse and who are insanely well-prepared for it with a huge stockpile of ammunition and canned food. Hollywood common sense tells us that these people usually end up dying in a grandiose last stand against hordes of undead, thus buying time for the main character to run off like a little girl. But replace them with a high school otaku living in urban Tokyo who has never touched an actual gun before, and who knows what will happen? Hilarity ensues, probably.

Gimmicks aside, the core of any zombie apocalypse story is ultimately the character interaction.

Some survivors become overcome by grief or hopelessness and give up, some who are better prepared see it as an opportunity to profit or seize power, some continue to naively believe in the safeguards of society and government to rescue them from their predicaments, some fight because they are trained and disciplined and some fight because they accept the reality of the situation and are left with no other options.

The range of emotional responses, and the cascading effect they have on other characters and society at large (or what remains of it anyway), is ultimately what makes such a survival story so compelling. (Did I mention that World War Z is a great book for this?)

And by that measure, HOTD is actually a pretty decent and thoughtful piece of work. One of the most memorable moments in the show for me so far as of episode 5 (warning: slight spoilers ahead) was when a bunch of high school delinquents jumped a police barricade (which kept out potentially-infected people until they can be screened at checkpoint). They taunted and laughed at the riot police whom they naively believed were unable to do anything to them due to their legal status as juveniles.

The unflinching police officers responded with ruthless efficiency by firing the water cannon, blasting two of the delinquents off the bridge and into the river below. The remaining teenagers quickly realized that the nature of society they lived in had been irrevocably changed and that the social safety nets they had come to take for granted no longer exist when the entire country and its institutions are on the verge of collapse.

Moments like this make the show far more than just zombies and fanservice. I like that.

A scene familiar to any porn aficionado, except for the spew of blood (or not?)

Conclusion

Veteran fans of zombie movies can find something unique in HOTD as it simultaneously celebrates and desecrates the genre without skipping a beat. Newcomers can enjoy it for its zany fanservice, nice story pacing and pretty animation, and hopefully absorb enough basic knowledge along the way to survive the inevitable undead uprising caused by nanobots gone wild. Perhaps even pick up a few protips on how to organize and rule your own post-apocalyptic band of wandering scavengers.

Or you can just look at the frequently-exposed undergarments. There’s something in it for everyone. :)

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19 Responses to “Highschool of the Dead”

I have a much less flowery opinion of this show. In that sense it is very much of if you like the trope or not kind of thing.

Weird that you didn’t talk about the animation and direction, which are the only two things keeping me to this show. Even if we talk about fanservice it really isn’t “incredible” as much as it is well animated and well presented.

That said, I did mention the animation. There is an entire sentence dedicated to it. But I don’t watch anime for the animation, so I don’t have much else to say about that.

3

JohnDarksabre August 8th, 2010 at 2:59 am

Besides the animation quality. The original manga is drawn well too. I can say the show is going to get better based on what i read. Ah but the author seems to be going on multiple fan baiting hiatus alot though.

oh you did say animation is of high quality. yeah, i mean i don’t think you’re wrong or anything, it’s just there’s so much more to the animation. and it isn’t that i am jaded, i just don’t have a thing for zombie flicks, nor do I think the 25-minute TV format benefits the story.

the horror scenes are overshadowed by the pure action scenes in some ways, which i think doesn’t do the show much of a favor. on the other hand those action scenes are probably why we watch anime in the first place.

I really felt like the fan service was way overdone. It got better after the first episode, but in the first episode they were constantly taking away from the good blood spurts for the tiniest bit of undergarments. I understand that some people came for the eminent fan service, but I, for one, came for good, bloody action.

However, I kept watching for the animation quality (which I usually don’t pay attention to, but Madhouse did a really good job), and for the zombie-related story, which for some reason I could never get into with these United States-based films. I think it is the colliding of zombie apocalypse and anime. Overall, I say it is decent.

6

TactN August 9th, 2010 at 12:55 am

“But replace them with a high school otaku living in urban Tokyo who has never touched an actual gun before…”

I thought it was stated in the story at some point (by him) that he has had training before by some soldier in the American Army, hence explaining his unnaturally well aim and knowledge of recoil.
(Then again, as far as the anime goes, I’m only still on EP2, so not sure if they just cut that part out)

I’d have to say I agree with the others that I find the overwhelming amount of fan service distasteful. Then again, given the source material, it’s hard to imagine them doing anything else.

HotD reminds me of Cat Shit One in the way they are taking a well-established genre and putting a new spin on it (whether it be replacing rednecks with highschool otakus or replacing war-hardened swearing army operatives with bunnies, complete with twitching whiskers) and I think it’s worth sticking around just to see where it goes.

P.S., good to see you doing long, in-depth anime entries again. It’s been a while.

7

Dan August 9th, 2010 at 10:09 am

HotD is a bit too predictable for my tastes. While the social experiment aspects of the show are fairly interesting, zombie apocalypses just don’t appeal to me. It’s not that their old or repetitive, I just don’t enjoy them very much. I’m not even sure why I do.

8

Dragoon August 10th, 2010 at 3:36 am

Good to see you posting again! Must admit that HotD wasn’t one of the shows on my watch list, undead never really did anything for me… but, after reading your ‘review’ and then seeing some of the screenshots i figured i’d give it a go, and i kinda like it… not sure why and i’m still not convinced that the fan service is needed but its easy enough to watch so far without my head imploding!!

Cheers :o)

9

RedWing August 11th, 2010 at 5:03 am

Got to disagree strongly on this one. If one wants to watch pornography there is tonnes on internet. The act of shoe horning as much of it into the show as possible devalues everything about anything the show wants to say. It’s hard to take a show seriously when breasts make a boing sound everytime a female stands up.

“the core of any zombie apocalypse story is ultimately the character interaction.”

What character interaction is there? The main character has a harem and is unaware, the other male is a foil to make the main seem more normal/cool, the females exists solely to for their ero stereotypes. Sounds like standard sexual deviant anime to me.

The latest episode cemented it for me. This show has nothinbg significant to say. It wants to be porn and fails, it wants to be serious and fails spectacturly. Enjoy it if you want but you’ll have a hard time convincing me there is something significant to be gained from this show.

10

Poro August 11th, 2010 at 9:47 am

The manga is much better simply because I found the manga funnier and didn’t have such a horrible OP song. I also hate the constant fan service. The manga made it less distracting and actually…. Or perhaps it is just because it is in color and better created with SFX…. Either way the manga format seems to benefit the story better.

11

Small Implosion August 12th, 2010 at 5:06 pm

Yay, you’re back!!

Always good fun to check out this site and see either an endorsement or biting review of some sort.

Actually… as you know from WoW lore Sylvannas Windrunner was originally a high elf; that makes undead humans perma slow and stupid. We can never be both. But yea definitely though there has never really been a case where they have been both before. Perhaps in the future, but elf doooesn’t count!!

Back to HotD, it appears to be a good anime(first zombie genre?), but imo I think their just gonna screw up the ending and everything just goes downhill and it becomes another crap anime. But we shall see. ^^

From witch author have been inspired those who made High School Of The Dead

17

Aegisadin August 28th, 2010 at 9:01 am

What I like about it above all else, is the fact that it takes alot of the things about anime in general that keep people watching, mashes them together in such a way that you can’t really call it clean and you can’t really call it haphazardly either. It is interesting, fun, and above all unique in an enviroment saturated with one formula title after another. I watched the first 2 episodes and was unsure whether I was goign to finish it, but once I started to get interested in all the quirky characters I found myself waiting more and more anxiously for each new episode. While I can’t point out any particular aspect that makes HSOTD stand out, as a whole I think its great.

As an “anarchistic gun loving redneck” I rather liked the show in spite of the excessive “fan service”. As an avid fan of sci-fi & horror films for almost 50 years, I’ve come to dislike the overdone “zombie” genre. HOTD put an interesting little spin on it.

In spite of any shortcomings it was never boring. If Nurse Dipweed got killed off early it would have been better. That yappy little mutt was no help either.